Content for teachers and students about robotics in our world. Is robotics the Perfect Platform for 21st Century Learning? Read on!.. Would you like your student robotics activities presented here? Leave a comment or email me. And check out Robotics for Teachers PODCAST @ http://www.roboticsforteachers.com/

• The skin is made of a thick layer of silicone, squishy in one's hand. It is placed over a bowl-shaped device containing the electronic guts of the robot

A life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man is the latest weapon in the US Navy’s arsenal to guard the world’s oceans.

Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled the prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro. It is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team made in 2012 – headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Virginia, and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech.

The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man's hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches…”

Student Focus Question:Why do you think robot designers are so interested in modeling their creations after real animals? Submit your thoughts using the "Comments" feature of this blog, below (feel free to include the name of your school, class, club, etc.)

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Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.

Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

“Meet Ropits, the Japanese robot car that drives itself Navigating could become a thing of the past thanks this driverless car for the elderly and disabled from Hitachi The Knight Rider dream of gliding around in sentient vehicles has taken a step closer to becoming reality this month with the launch of Hitachi's new self-driving car. Designed less with fighting crime in mind and more with picking up the groceries, the Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System – or Ropits for short – can take you effortlessly from A to B at the touch of the button and the swipe of a screen. Developed for elderly and disabled drivers, the vehicle is designed to roam pavements and footpaths, rather than roads, and is equipped with a plethora of sensors and guidance systems to help it navigate around bumps, potholes, and pedestrians. A touch-screen map is linked to a GPS device to provide the overall direction, supplemented by 3D laser distance sensors and stereo cameras fixed to the front of the car to detect obstructions in its path. But what about handling more difficult terrain and changes in level? Ropits takes curbs and steps in its stride: actuators fitted to the wheels can dynamically adjust their height as they encounter shifts in depth, while a gyro sensor ensures that the vehicle stays upright when negotiating uneven ground. And in case of emergency, or if Ropits gets a bit carried away at its top speed of four miles per hour, passengers can always override the system and seize control with a joystick. While initially developed for personal transport over short distances, Hitachi sees its "specified arbitrary point autonomous pick-up and drop-off" technology soon being applied to automatic goods deliveries, meaning your groceries could one day arrive via an unmanned, next-generation Ropits…” Read the full article at its source: : http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/mar/27/driverless-robot-car-elderly-disabled-mobility

Student Focus Question: Would you prefer to have a robotic car or a traditional, human-driven one? What do you think are the advantages of each? The disadvantages?Submit your thoughts using the "Comments" feature of this blog, below (feel free to include the name of your school, class, club, etc.)

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Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.
Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

There's a very nice page of insightful advice to kids interested in robotics provided on the NASA Robotics Alliance website. Here's a sample and a link to the page ("NOTE: All of these engineers work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory")

Roboticists Answer Our Questions...

...7. Do you have any suggestions for younger kids, in grade school, who are interested in science and robotics?

Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu: Hard work always pays off. You need to take Math and Science very seriously and most importantly English, because there is no point in being smart if you cannot communicate your ideas. It is all about teamwork. Also you need to remember that robotics is an experimental science so you need a great deal of patience.

Ayanna Howard: Find hands-on activities that get you excited - such as robot competitions and robotic kits (e.g. Mindstorm).

Brett Kennedy: While it's never too early to start experimenting with science and robotics (LEGO Mindstorms kits are great), read and learn as much as possible about the human world. Building robots or advancing science is not sufficient in itself; it must be done in the context of humanity's needs. Therefore you need to understand as much as possible about humans as well as robots.

Edward Tunstel: If you're interested in having similar fun...I mean doing similar "work", be sure to study math and science hard. If it doesn't come to you easily find help and continue to work at it. To be a robotics engineer, it is necessary to understand high levels of math and science as well as how computers and machines work. If math and science are not fun by themselves, you can surely find enough fun and challenges to suit your needs by applying them to robots. The college and university degrees in major disciplines I mentioned above will provide a necessary background. Finally, tinkering with computers, robots, video games, etcetera is also a good use of time since you never really stop doing similar things in a career as a robotics engineer.

Mike Garrett: Yes. Think physics. Where you have a choice, look for good teachers in the humanities who can help you develop your thinking skills. They are hard to find, but usually they are the tougher teachers, and they are always the ones who give lots and lots of writing assignments. (Sorry, there just is no easier way.) I wish someone had told me this: in your math and science classes it is not the grade that matters, you need to learn everything in each class because it all fits together later. An A is not good enough if you have not learned enough, and you don't need the A if you have..."

See the full article at its source:http://robotics.nasa.gov/students/robotics.php
.....................................................................................................Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.
Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I received this notice via email this morning. This seems to be an exciting addition to the LEGO mindstorms kit. See the video below... I can't imagine kids not being inspired by the ability to create things like this on their own.

Introducing the dLight, Dexter Industries latest accessory for the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT! The dLight is an LED lighting system for LEGO robots. The multi-colored LED’s are programmable for color, power, and blink rate. Give your LEGO robot a bright future with the dLight!dLights daisy chained together.

The dLight has the following features:
■Bright RGB LED set for the LEGO® MINDSTORMS®.

■Each LED can be programmed to show 16 million different colors.

■Optional blinking mode.

■Daisy chain up to 4 LEDs on one Sensor port.

■Program lights individually or as a group.

Watch the dLight in action
.....................................................................................................Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.
Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Arduino Adventures: Escape from Gemini Station is a new book by James Floyd Kelly and Harold Timmis. The book can provide students with a valuable robotics experience that builds on basic robotics ideas and skills learned with the LEGO NXT/Mindstorms system. It will offer an experience rich in electronics and programming learning, as well. The book and its implications for teaching and learning are discussed thoroughly in this episode. Along the way, a great explanation of what the Arduino micro-controller is and how it can be used, is provided.

.....................................................................................................Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.
Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

'Simplified' Brain Lets the iCub Robot Learn Language"
"The iCub humanoid robot... will now be able to understand what is being said to it and even anticipate the end of a sentence. This technological prowess was made possible by the development of a "simplified artificial brain" that reproduces certain types of so-called "recurrent" connections observed in the human brain. The artificial brain system enables the robot to learn, and subsequently understand, new sentences containing a new grammatical structure. It can link two sentences together and even predict how a sentence will end before it is uttered...

..Inserm and CNRS researchers and the Université Lyon 1 have succeeded in developing an "artificial neuronal network" constructed on the basis of a fundamental principle of the workings of the human brain, namely its ability to learn a new language. The model was developed after years of research in the Inserm 846 Unit of the Institut de recherche sur les cellules souches et cerveau, through studying the structure of the human brain and understanding the mechanisms used for learning

One of the most remarkable aspects of language-processing is the speed at which it is performed. For example, the human brain processes the first words of a sentence in real time and anticipates what follows, thus improving the speed with which humans process information. Still in real time, the brain continually revises its predictions through interaction between new information and a previously created context. The region inside the brain linking the frontal cortex and the striatum plays a crucial role in this process..."

.....................................................................................................Click on book cover for information on Getting Started with LEGO Robotics.
Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!

Click on book cover for information

Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!